The present invention relates generally to an air intake noise suppressor, and more specifically to a noise suppressing enclosure which is disposed upstream in the flow of air to the carburetor on a snowmobile engine.
Snowmobiles have typically been rather noisy pieces of equipment for the user because of the arrangement of the component parts. The fact that the engine is mounted directly in front of the driver has presented a number of unique problems including the protection of the driver from excessive noise. Advancements have been made in reducing the overall noise level of a snowmobile under operating conditions. However, one form of noise which has proved to be difficult to attenuate is the noise coming back out of the air intake of a carburetor. One prior art device, depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,039, shows an air intake silencer box which is universal in nature and includes provisions for adding divider walls and relies upon air being admitted to the box by way of tubular member 44. Another prior art arrangement for a snowmobile, as depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,518, shows a snowmobile hood which includes an air supply chamber 37 for directing air into the carburetor of the engine. Another prior art device, seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,751, shows an arrangement of a housing subdivided by a wall and utilizing a tube arrangement to trap sound coming back from the carburetor within the housing. Finally, a combined engine, air cleaner, and noise reducer, depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,912, shows an air inlet tube 14 with a generally cone shaped insert 20 disposed within the inlet tube for enhancing the flow of air to the engine in addition to controlling the passage of sound returning from the engine air intake.
None of the prior art arrangements disclose or suggest the particular arrangement of the instant invention.